European Readmission Capacity Building Facility - EURCAP

The objective of the EU Readmission Capacity Building Facility (EURCAP) – launched in April 2016 – is to contribute to effective and efficient cooperation in migration governance between the EU and its partner countries through capacity-building initiatives.

The EURCAP Facility aims at strengthening partner countries’ capacities to manage returns and cooperate on readmission with the EU as well as to prevent irregular migration.

The EURCAP Facility is funded by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs with 38.5 million euro. The positive cooperation and concrete results achieved on return and readmission with partner countries, in particular Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, has been underlined within the framework of the European Agenda for Migration.

In the Communication C(2020) 2516 on the implementation of relevant EU provisions in the area of asylum and return procedures and on resettlement during the COVID-19 pandemic, the EC stresses the importance to use available electronic means, such as Readmission Case Management Systems (RCMS), to maintain communication and cooperation channels open with third countries’ consular authorities in order to advance on individual cases in the return and readmission, at a time when the COVID-19 restrictive measures make the procedure of physical identification and re-documentation more difficult due to lack of human resources.

New visa rules on short-stay visas entered into force in February 2020 to facilitate the application procedure for legitimate travellers to come to Europe. The regulation also brings a very important element to the EU’s dialogue with partner countries on return and readmission by linking EU visa and migration management policies.

The EURCAP Facility provides a dedicated and flexible mechanism to assist the EU’s partner countries in four clusters: